We have an exciting new addition to the farm...bees! They will be great for honey, beeswax, pollinating the garden and orchard. And it's nice to know we're doing our part to encourage the bee population.
Taking care of bees is important to us. Especially since Jack was a little fella with a bug catcher and a love for all things outdoors. He accidentally killed a bee then heard on the news about the shortage in the bee population. He was convinced that the FBI was coming for him.
Jon is going to be our beekeeper. It looks like Meredith is planning to be his assistant. She'd been studying all the information we have on bees, unbeknownst to us. (Unbeknownst, there's a word you don't see every day.) He came in from his first hive inspection, saying he hadn't found the queen and wasn't sure if she was alive. Meredith piped up about how you'd be able to tell if the drone bees had started doing the work without the queen because it'd have a covering that looked like chicken nuggets. We got out the book, looked, and sure enough, she was right. We have a future apiarist.
Here's a look at our beehive installation.
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| Getting set up..mister, extra pines straw for the smoker, suit, sugar water, and bees |
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| Adding the bees. Can you believe there are 10,000 bees in that little box? |
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| Smoking the bees to send them down into the hive. |
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| Finishing the set up. Did you know the queen comes in a separate little cage with a candy cork? The workers eat it and free her once they are all in the hive. |
They're interesting to watch. They are busier at certain times of day. And so far, they seem to prefer the pollen from the melons and the corn.
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